


Mr & Mr Harkness Jones

by christinchen



Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Movie Fusion, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-28
Updated: 2011-06-28
Packaged: 2017-10-20 20:02:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/216603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/christinchen/pseuds/christinchen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It probably feels like you're the only people going through this. But I tell you something. There are millions of couples that are experiencing the exact same problems." Dr Noble told him.<br/>"Really?" Ianto just couldn't imagine that there were that many other people lying to their husbands about secretly being an assassin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mr & Mr Harkness Jones

**Author's Note:**

> written for [reel_torchwood](http://reel-torchwood.livejournal.com/)'s Round Two for the prompt ["Mr & Mrs Smith"](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356910)

"Jack! Hurry up. You're going to make us late." Ianto yelled through the house. He heard Jack mutter under his breath all the way from their bedroom through the hallway until be reached the top of the stairs where Ianto was waiting for him at the bottom, ready to leave.

"I don't understand why you are making us go there. It's not like we have problems." he complained, while shrugging into his coat.  
The same argument they've been having ever since Ianto had told him about the appointment. Well, at least it was a change from what they usually argued about, Ianto thought while tugging at Jack's collar to straighten it.

"Yes, Jack. We do have problems."

~.~

 

"Okay, I'll go first..." Ianto started, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"We don't really need to be here." Jack interrupted.

"Yes." Ianto nodded in agreement. It wouldn't do them any good to already start arguing in their first meeting of couple therapy, or 'marriage counselling' as the sign at the entrance had read in bright red letters.

"We've been married for five years..." Jack continued, before Ianto corrected him with a quiet "Six".

"Five - six years." Jack continued smoothly. "And this is like a check up for us."

Again Ianto quietly agreed.

"Okay, then. Let start." their counsellor, a middle aged woman with bright red hair, said. She had introduced herself as Dr Donna Nobel. "On a scale one to ten, how happy are you as a couple?"

Ianto didn't know whether to roll his eyes or ask for her qualifications. How does a woman become a successful marriage counsellor by asking her clients questions that seemed to be straight out of the latest issue of some women's magazine, he asked himself. But before he could dwell on that thought Jack interrupted him by answering her question.

"Eight." he replied in a confined voice.

"Wait." How had their marriage become an eight? They were happy, dammit! They were in love! Right? But then, he had been the one to insist on couple therapy. Had that made things so difficult between them? No, they had had their problems long before that. But how happy were they?  
Ianto noticed Dr Noble looking at him expectantly. Oh, right...  
"But is ten being perfectly happy and one being totally miserable? Or...?"

"Just respond instinctively." she answered with a sigh.

Instinctively? This was his marriage they were talking about.  
"Okay." he took a deep breath to steady himself. Looking at Jack he asked: "Ready?" He received a curt nod.

"Eight." They answered in perfect sync.

"How often do you have sex?" Dr Noble asked bluntly.

Ianto briefly wondered if the wank he had in the shower this morning counted, and he was pretty sure that Jack had been doing it in bed last night. He made a mental note to change the sheets, when they got home.

"Is this a one to ten thing?" Jack asked.

Ianto nodded. Distraction, just what they needed on that question. "Is one very little or is one nothing? Because, you know, technically speaking zero would be nothing."

"Yes, and what's ten?" Jack asked, laughing nervously. "Constant... unrelenting..."

"Not stopping for... I mean... just..." Ianto added. Oh yeah, this was awkward, he thought.

"Nothing to eat..." Jack finished for him, sending a tight smile in his direction, his eyes fixed to a point just above his right shoulder.

"It's not a one to ten scenario. It's a basic question. How often do you have sex?" Dr Noble asked, clearly losing patience with them.

Ianto found he didn't know. Things were just busy at the moment. They both had their jobs and... things to do.

"How about this week?" She asked when she was only met with silence.

"Including the weekend?" Jack asked. Ianto sighed, it would still add up to zero. A few years ago he would have laughed when someone told him that Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones could sleep in the same bed without as much as looking at each other.

"Sure." The counsellor nodded encouraging, but was again only met with awkward silence.

"Describe how you first met." she asked, after a few moments.

 

Five or six years ago; Bogotá, Columbia

Sirens were sounding all over the city, military troops were combing the streets. Ianto leaned against the grimy wall of the building behind him. He was drawing ragged breaths, his hand pressed into his side against the pain there.

He could hear gunfire in the streets nearby, as he limped deeper into the narrow road he had ducked into, when he had spotted a group of soldiers making it's way towards him.

An explosion went off, the second one on this day. Only this time he wasn't the one to set it off. His first thought was a second player, but then again, the government here was known to be quite ruthless when it came to attacks against them.

Ianto stopped again, inspecting the wound on his side. His shirt was red with blood, but if he kept his waist coat buttoned nobody would notice. He carefully plied it off where it was sticking to his skin, hissing softly when the cut began to bleed anew, the pain making him bite down on his cheek to keep himself from crying out.

That would need stitches, he decided. Ianto looked around, trying to get his bearings again after having to divert the soldiers. He wasn't too far from his hotel and there was a first-aid kit in his hotel room.

~.~

 

Jack leaned against the hotel bar. He drowned his drink in one go before pushing his glass to the barkeeper for a re-fill. The man caught his eye and he threw him a smirk.

'Maybe.' he thought. The guy wasn't half bad, if you're into the Latin-American kind of guy. Which Jack wasn't.

Sirens were wailing outside and he could hear the sound of a good dozen military boots hitting concrete coming closer. Gunfire sounded just outside the window before the door was pushed open, one group of soldier entering the hotel lobby.  
Orders were barked and the men rushed off, securing the building.

"Hey. ¿Qué pasa?", Jack leaned closer to the barkeeper.

"Someone shot the barracuda." the man answered in rapid Spanish. "Police are looking for tourists travelling alone."

As if on cue one of the uniformed men caught his eye. 'Fuck. Just play it cool, Harkness.'

"¿Estás solo, señor?" the man asked, walking up to Jack.

"What?" Jack mimed that he couldn't understand him, but the man only repeated his question.

~.~

 

Ianto walked up to the hotel, ignoring the two heavily armed police officers positioned at the entrance, even when they shouted after him, asking for his passport.  
"¡Señor, señor!"

He calmly walked into the hotel lobby where he was stopped by the end of a rifle pointed at him. 'Fuck. Think, Jones.'

Ianto's eyes scanned the area. Quickly settling on a man by the bar. He was in his mid-thirties maybe, wearing a light blue shirt with red braces. From the way he was handling a questioning police officer he was clearly a tourist. Just what he needed.

And he was quite handsome, Ianto couldn't help but notice. 'Not helping.' he mentally scolded himself. He caught the strangers eyes, while trying to fend off the polices questions.  
"¿Estás solo?"

"No, I'm not." he answered in English, not taking his eyes of the man in front of him. A smile played over his lips and was answered with a bright grin, then made his way over to him.

"No, no, no. Esta bien.. He's with me. Esta bien.." the stranger told the police, looping an arm around Ianto's waist and pulling him away. He was carefully steering him in the direction of the hotel's rooms.

"This one." Ianto said quietly when they reached the room he had booked. There were soldiers down the corridor, pounding on every door, asking for passports.  
He unlocked the door and the man from the lobby followed him inside without hesitation, kicking the door shut again behind them.

Ianto leaned against the door, trying to listen when the sounds from the other side ceased.  
"I'm Ianto." he whispered when he saw the other man press against the door beside him.

"Jack." he whispered back, reaching to shake Ianto's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too." Ianto smiled, holding onto Jack's hand just a moment too long and smiling just a bit too bright.

~.~

 

Thunder was rumbling outside, the humidity from the rain falling was ebbing through the broken windows, making the clothing stick to their skin. Ianto tucked on his shirt, wincing when it rubbed against the fresh stitches in his side.

Leaning back against the headboard of the bed they were sitting on, he took the still half full bottle from Jack hand and took a big swig, coughing at the taste and the alcohol.

"That stuff really doesn't get better." he muttered when he could talk again.

"It's apparently one of this country's finest." Jack laughed before taking a gulp himself, grimacing when he swallowed it, causing Ianto to laugh.

"You really are beautiful when you're laughing."

Ianto stopped abruptly. No one had ever called him beautiful. He was a assassin for one of Britain's most successful agencies and he had been called a lot of things, beautiful wasn't one of them.

"What?" he studied Jack open-mouthed. His expression was completely serious, not a hint of laughter left.

"You. Are. Beautiful." he spoke slowly, punctuating each word. All the while moving in closer to Ianto. With the last word their faces where inches apart. Ianto felt Jack's breath hot on his face, the smell of the booze they had earlier filling his nose and he knew when he leaned in, closing those last few inches, he would be able to taste on his lips.

And then he did.

The kiss was slow, almost chaste, just lips against lips. He leaned closer, bringing his arms up and around Jack, moaning softly when Jack's lips parted under his. A gentle nip of teeth was followed by a soothing tongue and Jack's arms circled around his waist, pulling him flush against his own body.

'Jack was definitely a good kisser.' Ianto thought. He pulled back a bit, letting his eyes wander over Jack. His lips were swollen from their kiss, slightly parted, where his breath was coming in short gasps. Ianto followed his eyes with his fingers, tracing them over the skin of Jack's cheeks, then over his lips, smiling when Jack caught his hand in his own, placing a gentle kiss on the palm of Ianto's hand before leaning in again, pressing his lips against Ianto.

Jack's hands started to wander over Ianto's back. Carefully tucking his shirt from his trousers before sliding his hands underneath it.  
His fingers were stroking over Ianto's skin, kneading the muscles underneath, causing Ianto to moan, breaking their kiss. Only to drive in again seconds later, capturing Jack's lips with his own.

Ianto pressed Jack further down the bed, lying him on his back before moving on top of him, straddling his thighs and leaning down into another kiss.

Ianto gently rocked his hips against Jack's, slow almost leisure movements, letting the other feel his arousal.  
"Jack." he moaned, when Jack brought his hands down on Ianto's butt pulling him down, while pushing up against him.

"Clothes off." Jack whispered against Ianto's lips. His hands pulling impatiently at Ianto's shirt, trying to get it off that same time Ianto was tucking on his trousers.

Ianto snorted when they got tangled in their clothes. Uncurling Jack's fingers from the fabric and pinning his hands above his head, he first rid himself of his own clothing before helping Jack out of his.

Warm skin on warm skin, hot hands all over their bodies.

Jack rolled them over, covering Ianto's body with his own.  
"Want you, Ianto." he whispered in his ear. "Want to feel you inside me."

Ianto moaned, kissing him deeply. "God, yes."  
Just the thought of being inside Jack was sending shivers down his spine.

Jack pressed a lingering kiss to Ianto's lips before leaning over, reaching for the bedside table. It took Ianto a moment to comprehend that Jack was reaching for the top drawer, the drawer where he had hurriedly hidden his gun earlier when he and Jack had entered the room.

"Stop." he called, his hand shooting out, grabbing onto Jack's and stopping him from opening the drawer. Jack raised a questioning eyebrow when Ianto's hands closed around his wrist.  
"Umm, let me do that." Ianto muttered after a moment of awkward silence.

A wide grin spread across Jack's face, lying back now on the bed. His arms resting behind his head he surveyed Ianto's movements.  
"I do like a man who knows how to be in charge in the bed room."

"Well, then." Ianto grinned, back on track. He moved over to Jack again, a bottle of lube and a pack of condoms, both thoughtfully provided by the hotel, in his hand. He straddled Jack's hips, leaning down to kiss him

"Don't move." he let his breath ghost over the shell of Jack's ear, causing the other man to shiver underneath him.

Ianto grinned wickedly at Jack's reaction, filing it away to explore at a later date.  
He pressed feather-light kisses along Jack's neck, all the way down his torso.

Jack drew a sharp breath when Ianto continued his path of kisses over the hard line of Jack's cock, pressed up against his stomach.

"Fuck, Ianto, please." he bucked his hips up into Ianto's touch, trying to gain more contact, but was stopped by Ianto's hands framing his sides, holding him down.

"Soon." Ianto promised with a smile, before leaning down taking Jack's length between his lips, sliding his lips down the shaft, taking as much of him in his mouth as he could.

Jack cried out, his hands fisting in the sheets, desperately trying not to push his hips into Ianto's mouth. His whole body felt like it was on fire, his veins were thumping with arousal and when he let his head fall back into the cushion his vision went fuzzy.

Ianto ran his hand flat from Jack's waist down, then to his balls rolling them gently in his palm, then bringing his fingers back even further. He teased Jack's entrance, slowly rubbing across it, before reaching for the disregarded bottle of lube on the sheets beside them and coating his fingers liberally.

A moan caught in Jack's throat when the first lube-slick finger entered him. "God Ianto, hurry up."

"Patience." the hoarseness in Ianto's voice betraying his outer calmness. His eyes were darkened with lust and his cock twitching with arousal, when Jack rock his hip back into his hand as he entered another finger into him, a look of utter pleasure and desperation on his face.

"God Jack, please tell me you're ready." So close to losing control, his face pressed into the juncture of Jack's hip, his cheek rubbing against his cock with every ragged breath Jack drew and every movement of his own hips.

Jack ran his fingers through Ianto's hair, massaging his scalp. His breaths were coming in short gasps with the arousal at the sight of Ianto pressing himself against him so wantonly, his hips grinding into the mattress underneath him.

"More than ready." Jack tugged impatiently on Ianto, pulling him up to him.

Ianto removed his fingers, rolling on the condom quickly and then finally pushed into Jack's body. He groaned as the heat surround him, Jack was incredibly tight and Ianto knew without opening his eyes and seeing the look of discomfort flicker over Jack's face that he hadn't prepared him enough.

"Sorry." he gasped out. "Didn't mean... I can... if you need..." the words leaving his mouth even less coherent than his thought.

"It's alright." Jack assured him quickly. "Just give me a moment."

Ianto kissed him softly, first on the lips then working his way on along a trail of sweat running from his forehead down the side of his face, until he reached the lines of concentration on Jack's forehead, gently kissing them, smoothing them out.

"Shh, relax." Ianto leaned in closer, carefully lifting up Jack's leg around his hip. Changing the angle, he felt Jack's now only half-hard cock press to his stomach.

After endless moments when neither of them moved, Jack rolled his hips slowly up into Ianto, causing him to moan and start gently rocking back into him.

Jack's hands scrambled up, digging into Ianto's back, holding onto him fast.

Ianto tried to take everything in, the way Jack felt underneath him, the way he tasted when he kissed him, the way he moaned softly with each and every thrust of his hips.

Jack slid his hand into Ianto's, entwining their fingers resting on the pillow beside his head.

Ianto smiled and leaned forward, kissing Jack softly, then resting his forehead to Jack's.

He brought his free hand between their joint bodies, teasing his fingertip along Jack's hard cock before closing around him

A strangled moan fell from Jack's lips.  
"So close." he mumbled, pressing their lips together in a breathless kiss.

Jack's fingers combed through his sweaty hair, running down his shoulders then up again. Their bodies were moving in sync now, hot breaths mingling between their parted lips.

He felt Jack shudder under him, gasping for air as the first tremors of his orgasm hit him.

"Jack." a breathless moan and then Ianto was coming too.

He opened his eyes to Jack pressing wet hot kisses all over his skin, Ianto rolled off him and curled around him.

"That was... intense." he rested his head against Jack's, settling in and closing his eyes.

"Yeah."

~.~

 

Ianto woke to the bright sun shining through the curtains, he burrowed his face deeper into the pillow and hoped that sleep came once again. It didn't.

He startled when he felt movement on the other side of the bed, a warm body pressing itself against his bare backside. Within moments he was wide awake. He lifted his head, carefully risking a glance over his shoulder. He spotted a man lying behind him, soundly asleep, his dark hair sticking up in every direction. Ianto couldn't help but smile at the sight.

He usually wasn't the type to just jump into bed with some stranger, especially not when he was technically still on an assignment. But Jack was just... different. He had made him feel at ease, had made him forget about his job, about everything that hadn't been them in just that moment.

Maybe, he thought. Maybe for once this could work and they could see each other again. Ianto thought back to his failed relationships, his break-up with Lisa barely a few months ago. This time he needed a better cover.

Ianto carefully removed Jack's arm from around his middle and quietly slipping out of the bed. The hotel was quiet and empty when he made his way through the corridors, trying to locate the kitchen and find something edible for breakfast for him and Jack.

~.~

 

Six months later he walked into the HUB, the happy smile on his face earning him a suspicious glance from Gwen, his second in command. He ignored her in favour of making himself a cup of coffee, but if Gwen Cooper was onto something, she wasn't easily distracted, no matter how hard one tried.

"So, I guess you had a nice evening with this Jack-guy?" Gwen asked, her voice the picture of innocence. But Ianto knew if he turned around he would see her leaning against the door frame to his office, her arms crossed and a mistrusting expression on her face.  
Because another thing about Gwen was that she was absolutely protective of those she considered her friends and family.

"It went very well." he answered, keeping his voice as even as possible and trying to dim the wide grin that threatened to split his face in two.

"Come on." he said when he only received a raised eyebrow in response. Deciding that when he had to have Gwen yell at him, he rather had her yell at him in private than with everybody listening. Ianto left his office, leaving his coffee behind on his desk to grow cold, and lead the way down to the shooting range.

He picked up his gun, the safety glasses and ear muffs for himself and Gwen.

He had emptied a whole magazine into the targets by the time he started to speak.  
"Jack and I went to see a estate agent yesterday."

"So, you don't think this is happening a little fast?" Gwen asked, concentrating on her own targets, hitting them square in the middle.

"You know me. I never do anything without thinking it through."

Giving a sigh at his comment, Gwen asked: "What does he do? I mean he has a job right?"

"He's in construction. He's a big-time contractor. He's gone as much as I am. So it's perfect." he argued.

"I give the whole thing another six months tops." Gwen said before continuing with her target training.

"Gwen, I asked him to marry me." with that Ianto turned back to his own targets, empting another round of bullets into them.

"What?" Gwen ripped her ear muffs off, turning around to face him. "Stop shooting for a moment. I think you just said something stupid."

~.~

 

"Ianto asked me to marry him." Jack announced with a wide grin upon entering the TARDIS.

"Stop, stop. You've only known that guy for six months." Rose told him, looking up from the computer she was working on.

"I'm in love." Jack answered. "He's smart, sexy. He's uninhibited, spontaneous and complicated. He's absolutely amazing. Not only in bed."he added with a wink.

"I knew Mickey two and a half years before he asked me to marry him." Martha pointed out from where she was standing in the doorway. "You have to have a foundation of friendship and trust."

Rose nodded in agreement. "And what about your job? Are you going to tell him the truth? Isn't he going to wonder why you disappear in the middle of the night, coming back in the early hours of the morning with bullet wounds?"

"A server goes down on Wall Street and he's there anytime, day or night. He's like Batman for computers."

"I give the whole thing another six months tops." the Doctor replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Martha and Rose didn't look like they disagreed.

"I said yes." Jack called over his shoulder, disappearing into the kitchen, getting himself a cup of coffee.

 

Five or six years later

When Jack stepped into the bathroom Ianto was standing by the sink, brushing his teeth while reading the newspaper.

By the time Jack went to their bedroom to get dressed for the day, Ianto was already tying his tie with practised motions before shrugging his waistcoat on and straightening his shirt one last time with the flats of his hands.

"So, what did you think of Dr Noble?" Ianto asked, rummaging around the closet before fishing out one of Jack's shirts for him to wear.

"Her question were a bit wishy washy." Jack mused, taking the shirt from him and pulling it on.

"No, not the most insightful." Ianto agreed, picking up his shoes and exchanging the red suspenders in Jack's hand to grey ones. "And her office is clear across town."

"You know that four p.m. means we it rush hour. I'm not crazy about that." Jack looked at the now grey suspenders in his hands, shrugging before pulling on his trousers and tucking his shirt in.

"So that's settled then, yeah?" Ianto asked his retreading back when Jack left for the kitchen to get some of the coffee Ianto had made earlier before he left for work.

"Okay." Jack called over his shoulder, already half way down the stairs.

"Okay." he repeated Ianto to himself, wondering whether or not this was the right decision in saving their marriage and if there was something left to save at all.

~.~

 

"So, part two. Here we are." Dr Noble started, leaning back in her chair. "Only this time you came back alone. Why did you come back?"

"I'm not sure, really." Jack thought for a moment.

Because things were getting worse? No, they weren't.  
How could they if nothing was changing at all.

They weren't even talking to each other anymore.  
Maybe that was part of the problem, Jack mused thinking back to dinner last night.

They had sat on opposite ends of the table, the food piled between them like a barrier, not talking a single word. He had been reading up on their newest case while Ianto had been reading a book.

Had he even said "Hi" to Ianto when he had come in? Early in their marriage the first thing he had used to do when he had come home from work had been to snog Ianto senseless, now he couldn't even remember the last time he had kissed Ianto at all.

"Let me clarify." he started. "I love my husband. I want him to be happy. I want good things for him."

Dr Noble nodded and silently encouraged him to continue.

"But sometimes it's just... not that easy."

~.~

 

"What's the problem?" Dr Noble asked and Ianto found himself at loss at how to answer.

"It feels like..." he started. "... there's this huge space between us... and it keeps filling up with everything we don't say to each other."

"Well, that's marriage." Dr Noble told him. "What is it you don't say to each other?"

The question was what did they say to each other at all, Ianto thought. They sat through dinner in silence, quietly next to each other watching TV and went to bed without as much as saying a word to the other.

But the thing was he missed Jack. He missed talking to him about everything and nothing. He missed just curling up with him on the sofa all evening, cuddling close. He missed spending time with him, going to sleep with Jack's body draped around his.  
And hell, he missed sex with him.

"How honest are you with him?" Dr Noble asked when Ianto didn't answer.

"Pretty honest." Ianto told her. If you didn't count what he hadn't told him about his job, his family and pretty much anything else, he thought bitterly.  
"I mean, it's not like I lie to him or anything. We just... have our little secrets. Everybody has secrets."

"It probably feels like you're the only people going through this. But I tell you something. There are millions of couples that are experiencing the exact same problems." Dr Noble told him.

"Really?"  
Ianto just couldn't imagine that there were that many other people lying to their husbands about secretly being an assassin.

~.~

 

The phone rung. Jack looked up from the newspaper he was pretending to read and watched Ianto walk out of the room to take the call. That usually meant work. And Ianto having a work-emergency was just what he needed tonight. Especially since it would save him from faking one.  
He watched Ianto talk on the phone a few minutes before hanging up and disappearing upstairs.

Jack waited a few minutes before too climbing up the stairs to their bedroom, loudly bumping into the closet door when he entered the room, causing Ianto to jump out of his skin.

"You scared me." he muttered, not turning around from where he was standing facing the window. He was dressed in trousers and a shirt he was just buttoning. Though on closer inspection Jack noticed that he hadn't changed into a fresh suit but into yesterdays crumbled clothes.

"Sorry." Jack let his eyes roam over Ianto as he turned slightly, noticing that the ever-present tie was missing from Ianto's neck and the top buttons on his collar were undone, leaving the white t-shirt he was wearing underneath peeking out.

Rumbled was definitely a good look on Ianto, Jack decided, his eyes on his husbands every motion as he walked over to the closet, reaching far into the back and rummaging around before pulling out a jacket that was nothing like Ianto's usual posh look.

"Um, you going out?" he asked.

"Yes. Some idiot crashed a server in a law firm down town and ended the world as they know it. So, yes I'm going out." Ianto rolled his eyes before grabbing his laptop case making to move past Jack.

"It's just... we promised your sister."

"I know. I'll be there. It won't be long, promise." then Ianto was out the door.

The moment the front door closed behind Ianto Jack sped to the closet getting ready himself.

~.~

 

Ianto shifted his car into the parking space. He grabbed the small flask filled with whiskey from the glove compartment, taking a big swig before spitting it out of the open window and pouring some more down the front of his shirt, before he got out of the car, making his way into the run-down bar.

He walked straight past the bar and the people sitting there and made his way to the back. He passed the restroom and pushed open the door marked 'Employees Only' in big red letters.

He faked a slight stumble when he entered the back-room. Three surprised men looked up from where they were playing poker.  
"Raise you to... What the hell? What's this shit?" the last part of the sentence was clearly directed at Ianto.

"Sorry." he slurred, stumbling a bit more further into the room, "Where's the can around here?"

"For Christ's sake." one of the mumbled.

Another disoriented step and Ianto pushed the door closed behind him. He pretended to let his eyes focus on the guys in the room and the table they were sitting on, before asking: "Are you guys playing poker?"

He held himself upright by clinging to the doorknob, quickly ranking his eyes over them. Each of them had a gun tucked in their trousers under the jackets they were wearing. If he timed it right none of them would be able to reach for them fast enough.

"Private Game. Piss off." the guy who had spoken earlier said.

"Could I sit in? Do you think I can sit it?" Ianto took another stumbling step towards the table.

"What part of 'piss off' do you not understand?" his voice was angry now.

"Guys. Hey, be a little friendly. I got the cash. I got the cash." he snickered to himself. "I'm showing you my bankroll." Ianto fumbled clumsily for his pockets, before finally extracting a bundle of banknotes. "I got the money. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying?" another fake stumble and he was waving the money inches from their faces.

"Poker - don't even know her. So if you want me to sit in, I'll sit in. And I'll play some cards with you. If you don't, I won't." he made a move to put his money back into his pocket, swaying a bit on his feet he grabbed onto the chair in front of him, sending it tumbling to the floor. For a moment he let it look like he was about to fall too, before catching himself. He laughed in drunken glee when he managed to stay upright.

"Jesus." he could hear on of the man as he lifted the chair up again.  
"Here's an empty chair. I could sit right here."

"That's Lucky's chair." the man to his right answered. He had a bald head and a tattoo running down his neck, it disappeared underneath a ripped and sweaty shirt, where he had his arms crossed over his chest.

"Wh-Where's Lucky? I don't see Lucky." Ianto stated, waving his arms around unnecessary.

"Lucky's not back yet." the man across from him said, he had shoulder long, greasy hair and a Scottish accent.

"Then I'll sit here. Unless I'm too hot for you."

~.~

"Raise." Ianto decided and then as an afterthought looked at the cards he was holding.

"You're out of money." he guy next to him laughed.

"Ohh. Ohh, I have.... I have this." he fumbled in his pocket for a moment, before pulling out an old-fashioned stopwatch. "Solid silver." he told them before throwing it to the growing pile of money and other possessions in the middle of the table.

"'To dodging bullets. Love, Jack.'", one of them had picked the piece up and was now reading the inscription out loud, laughing together with the others.

'Yeah, and I'm so getting that back once you're dead.' Ianto thought to himself. The stopwatch had been a wedding present from Jack. The inscription a reminder of the day they met in Columbia.

He clinked glassed with the other guy, taking a mouth full of scotch only to discreetly spit it into his beer bottle a moment later.

He heard the door open behind him, someone entering.  
"What the hell is this?" a voice asked.

"Sorry, Lucky." the bald guy answered before turning to Ianto. "Looks like you're done, pal."

Ianto nodded and threw his cards down on the table. He looked at the guy over his shoulder. "So you're Lucky?"

"Yeah." he answered, giving him a once over. "What is it, kid? You looking for a job or something?"

"You are the job." the Ianto pulled the trigger.

Lucky dropped to the floor, dead. The second it took for the guys sitting at the table to realize what was going on, was enough for Ianto to push back his chair and bring his gun up front, killing them too with three precise shots.

He put his gun back into the holster, picking up his pocket watch and turned to go.

~.~

 

Jack stepped out of the taxi, when the hotel's concierge opened the door for him. He could feel the man's eyes on his arse, following him all the way until he disappeared behind the opaque glass doors.

He walked right past the front desk, knowing when he looked like he belonged nobody would ask questions. He went straight for the elevators, entering and pressing the button for the penthouse.

A tall guy with more muscle than brain was already waiting for him when Jack stepped out of the elevator.  
Jack knew better that try and strike up a conversation with him as he was swiftly searched for weapons. The man patting his hands down Jack's legs then up again, he only paused when he found the handcuffs tucked into the inner pockets of the dark leather jacket Jack was wearing.

Jack gave him a smirk and held his hands out for them as he passed through the door into the actual penthouse.

"We got an plane in an hour." the man called after him.

"Alright." then the doors fell close behind him, leaving him in a small room that had two guards watching some TV quiz show, he absently noted the guns they had under their jackets.  
One of them gave him a nod, when he stepped up the the final set of door leading to the master bedroom.

He closed the doors behind himself and locked them. He turned, taking in the room around him as well as possible escape routes. Out of the window it was then, he thought just when he heard the bathroom door to his right open.

Jack smiled sweetly at the man who entered the room. He was a little shorter than him, his dark hair in greasy curls, the robe he was wearing left open, revealing more dark curls from his chest down, disappearing under low slung boxers.

The man eyed him with a smirk, his gaze travelling up and down his body, lingering just a bit longer when they reached his denim-clad crotch.

Jack matched the man's smirk with one of his own, before letting his jacket slide off his shoulder and fall to the floor. He pulled his t-shirt off too, letting it pool at his feet. Next were his jeans, he undid the top most buttons, just enough to revealing that he hadn't bothered with underwear.

Jack widened his grin a held a hand up, letting the handcuffs dangle from a finger.  
"Ready?"

It didn't take long for his 'client' to drop the robe and kneel on the floor by his feet. Jack snapped the handcuff in place before taking a good look at the man in front of him, walking a slow circle around him.

"Have you been a bad boy?" his voice low and seductive.

"Yes." he all but moaned. Jack put a hand on the back of this neck forcing him to lower his head.

"You know what happens to bad boys?" his voice down to a threatening whisper, his knee pressing painfully into the man's back. "They get punished."

"Oh yeah, punish me." accompanied again by a moan.

Jack leaned in, his lips brushing the other man's ear as he spoke.  
"Have you been selling big guns to bad people?"

He felt his body stiffen against his own, a startled sound escaping his lips. But before he had a chance to do anything else, let alone call the guards, Jack's hands went to his head.  
There was a satisfying sound when his neck broke and the body fell to the floor with a thud.

Jack winced when he heard someone call from the other side of the door: "Mr Racin? Are you okay, Sir?"

He picked up his clothes, pulling on his t-shirt and fastening his jeans again. He quickly checked his cell phone, only to realize that he had to hurry if he didn't want to be late to dinner with Ianto's sister.

Then he pulled open the window and climbed up the ledge.

"He' down." came a shout from the other side of the room, gun shots followed and seconds later the door burst open, two men rushing in, guns draw.

His jacket was hurriedly slung around the down pipe of the rain gutter and then he set off.  
As soon as his feet touched the ground he ran around the corner to the main street, finding the next available taxi.

~.~

 

Jack jogged up the stair to their bedroom. He heard the shower running in the adjoined bathroom and knew Ianto was back already.

"Hey." he called, poking his head through the room, while trying to inspect the damage he had done to his jacket.  
'Dammit.' he thought. 'I really liked that jacket.'

"Hey." Ianto called back. Moments later he shut the shower off and stepped out off the shower cubicle.

Jack took a moment to let his eyes wander over his husbands wet, naked body before it disappeared underneath a towel, wrapped around his hips.

Ianto met Jack's eyes with a raised eyebrow when he noticed his glance. But Jack just smiled at him. "We'd better hurry up or we'll be late for dinner at your sister's."

Ianto nodded and moved to walk past Jack into their bedroom. He just didn't know what to make out of Jack sometimes. He had seen him staring at him, had seen the look of lust in his eyes. But he never did anything about it. Why didn't he just do something about it?  
Because he probably was just as at a loss of what to do as Ianto was himself, he thought bitterly.

Ianto stopped already halfway through the doorway Jack was leaning against, taking two steps back until he stood right in front of Jack.  
He fixed Jack with a steady gaze, then leaned in and brushed a soft peck across his lips. He smiled when Jack's arms came around his waist, holding him close just as he was about to pull away.

The kiss was chaste and soft and when Ianto finally pulled away he knew for the first time in months that they might just be on their way to being okay.

"We're gonna be late to Rhi's."

* * *

It had been a simple mission: Plant the bomb, wait for the target to arrive, blow it up, pack up and go home.

Benjamin Danz should be a dead man by now. But he wasn't, he wasn't because Ianto Jones, the best assassin Torchwood had to offer, had failed.

Ianto fist hit the wall hard, he cursed when the skin broke and the pain spreading through his hand distracted him momentarily from the pain in his right shoulder, where the explosion had hit him.

He had been to sure about it, had only thought about how easy this mission was not about what could possibly go wrong.

He had been lazing about when that idiot had shown up inside the field, threatening to set the explosives off.

And what an idiot had he been, trying to save some 'innocent's' life by pulling the plug and disabling the bomb.

He had been so distracted that he hadn't noticed that the civilian wasn't a civilian at all until he had a rocket launcher pointed at him.

He took a deep breath before stomping into the HUB.  
"I want to know who the fuck that was!" he was seething.  
"Tosh, get me that tape." he ordered, ignoring both Gwen and Owen who were both bustling around him.

"Already on your desk." the technician answered before making a tactical retreat into the small shop they had set up upstairs as a cover.

"Ianto, if you..." Gwen didn't get any further before Owen cut her off. "Sit down or I'll sedate you. I wanna have a look at the shoulder it's still bleeding and I need to clean out your hand."

With that Ianto was pushed into a chair.

"Harold Saxon is on the phone." Gwen told him finally.

"Fuck."

~.~

 

"I think I got I.D.'d on that hit." Jack sighed as he sunk down on the settee inside the TARDIS. "Have you ever been I.D.'d on a hit?"

"Not that I'm aware of, no." came the Doctor's reply from behind him.

Jack craned his neck to look at him."I think I'm in trouble."

The Doctor came to sit next to him. "Did you get a look at him?" At Jack's shrug he added. "Anything?"

"I got a laptop." Jack picked up a piece of burned plastic from the floor.

"Leave it for Mickey to take apart tomorrow."

"No, if there's anything on that laptop, I know just the person to find it." with that he got up and headed out.

~.~

A bell jingled over his head when he entered the small shop at the bay just off the millennium center.

"Just a moment." came a female voice from the back and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Take your time, Tosh." he replied.

"Jack!" seconds later the Japanese woman came through the beaded curtain, a wide grin on her face.

"Is Ianto in or is he still at that job he's been grumpy about all week." he asked with a grin, remembering how Ianto had spent all morning during breakfast complaining about being send to do a job that 'clearly any idiot could do'.

Tosh winced. "He just came back, but... umm, it didn't go well. Better not ask him about it. But if it's important I can go and get him."

"No no, better let him have a bit to let some steam off." Jack plastered a smile on his face. He didn't look forward to spending his evening with a grumpy Ianto. Especially not since they've been getting closer again over the last few days.  
"I'm actually here about this." he lifted the broken and burned laptop on the counter between them. "Think you can help me with that?"

"What did you do to it?" Tosh scoffed. "Put a camp-fire out with it?"  
She turned it over in her hands once. "Buy a new one."

"It has a sentimental value for its owner."

"And who's that?"

"Well, I was hoping you could tell me that." he gave her a winning smile.

Tosh sighed and reached for her screwdrivers starting to dismantle the laptop piece by piece.

"Here we go." she said after long moments of silence while she was working.  
"Upgraded RAM module." she held up a small chip with a pair of tweezers, before typing something into her computer.  
"The chip's Chinese, imported by Dynamix." she read. "Retailed by uh- "

"What? What is it?" Jack asked impatiently. If Tosh had found out where he could find the other assassin, he had to know. He had to know and he had to finish the job. He simply couldn't risk being exposed.

"It's one of ours. Not one of those we sell, but one we use ourselves." she told him finally, looking a bit uncertain. "It's Ianto's to be exact. We all have these numbers in all our laptops in case..." she trailed off.

But Jack was barely listening to her anymore. The laptop was Ianto's. Ianto, Ianto, who was working in a small computer shop at the bay of Cardiff. Ianto, who had nothing to do with international spies, known criminals and assassins working for the British crown.

"Look, Ianto's not gonna be happy you fried his laptop, literally, especially not when..." Tosh stopped again, but this time there was a glint of suspicion in her eyes.  
"Where did you get that laptop, Jack?"

"I have to go." he finally managed to whisper.  
His mind swirling with thought and images, his heart racing and his vision blurring dangerously he fumbled his way out of the door, neither registering Tosh calling after him nor the people he bumped into cursing him.

He reached his car, unlocked it and slid into the seat. He rested his head on the steering wheel.  
"Oh Ianto." he whispered softly.

How the hell had this happened? How could Ianto of all people be the assassin who I.D.'d him. Why?

Jack took a deep breath and sat up straight. 'This is just another job, Harkness. Pull yourself together.' he told himself. Another assassin had identified him, he knew what he had to do. The fact that he was living with him, married to him even, made things only more easy not more difficult.

And as soon as his hands stopped shaking he would go to work.

~.~

 

Ianto's eyes were glued to the monitor in front of him, the sequence they had recorded of the other assassin playing over and over again.  
Taking a gulp of his coffee he zoomed in again, waiting for the image to clear.

He felt a second of victory when the blur that had been the face of the other man cleared.

Ianto's hand went slack on the cup, letting it fall to the floor where it shattered loudly. His insides were twisting with dread and disbelief all the same. A heavy feeling settling into his stomach as he continued to stare at the familiar face.

"Ianto, it's Jack." Tosh came rushing into his office, his burnt laptop in her hands.

"I know." Ianto only whispered.

~.~

 

He would deal with this like the professional he was, Ianto thought determined as he entered the house. Shrugging off his coat and hanging it by the door, he surveyed the hallway while quietly slipping out of his shoes.

"Perfect timing." Jack came up behind him, causing Ianto to almost jump out off his skin and swirl around to face him. He was carrying two glasses of Martini and smiling at him sweetly.

"As always." he replied curtly. "This is a nice surprise."

"I hope so." Jack pressed one of the drinks into Ianto's hand and a kiss to his cheek. "You're home early."

"I missed you." Ianto moved into the embrace, sliding an arm around Jack's waist, checking for weapons.

"I missed you too." Ianto could feel Jack's hands on his back, his knee pressing between his legs just so that he would feel a gun strapped to his leg.  
"Shall we?" he asked, pulling away and indication to the dinning room.

"Yes." Ianto followed Jack down the hallway.  
'Right.' he thought. 'This wasn't Jack he was dealing with this was an assassin.'  
Part of him wishing he had taken Gwen up to her offer to do the job for him. But still he couldn't help but feel angry at her almost careless offer to kill his husband, though he knew if it had been Rhys he would have made the same offer to her.

Forcing his thoughts back to the present, Ianto eyed the drink in his hand for a moment before emptying it into a flowerpot.  
Poison was too cheap and easy for an assassin, but you never knew.

"I thought we only brought these out for special occasions." Ianto said eyeing the expensive cutlery and crockery on the table. Jack had even set out candles. A perfect romantic dinner, even if it would be their last.

"This is a special occasion." Jack had walked through the room, now holding a chair out for Ianto.

Ianto set his empty glass down and then took a seat. He couldn't help but smirk when Jack took the olives out of his glass and popped them into his mouth with a grin and a wink before stepping back into the kitchen to get their dinner.  
'I knew he had more class than that.' Ianto thought and felt an odd swell of pride.  
'Stop it.' he told himself firmly. 'That man is about to kill you and the only way to prevent it is killing him first.'

His eyes skidded over the table, taking in everything that could possibly be used as a weapon or be hiding one. After a moment of consideration he slipped a sharp knife into his sleeve.

"Mmm! Pot roast, my favourite." he smiled at Jack when he set the food down, dishing up before taking a seat himself.

"So, how was work?" Jack asked.

"Actually we had a little trouble with a... commission." Ianto started. "Double booking with another firm."

"Well, I hope everything worked out okay." Jack told him, while starting to cut up his roast.

"It hasn't yet, but it will." Ianto smiled confidently at him. "I'm working on it as we speak."

Jack just watched him intensely as Ianto started to eat, a satisfied smile playing around his lips.

'The food!' Ianto thought just a moment too late, he swallowed heavily and felt a momentarily panic.

Right until Jack started to dig into his own food, with a smug smile on his face.  
'That bastard! He had done it again.'

"Yeah, it's just poison for the work climate when things go wrong." he gave Ianto a flirtatious smile. "We had a few problems ourselves today. Some figures didn't add up."

"Big Deal?" Ianto asked, holding the wine bottle up in question and moving to refill Jack's glass when he nodded.

"Life or death."

Ianto took a sharp breath. 'It really was.' he thought bitterly, while a tiny voice in his head still kept insisting that this was all a big misunderstanding.  
He had to know, he simply had to be sure.

His eyes were drawn to the wine bottle in his hand when he set down Jack's now full glass.  
A man working in construction wouldn't notice until it was too late, a man with the instincts of a killer on the other hand...

Ianto held his breath for a moment, then he loosened his grip and prayed to hear the smash of glass hitting the tile floor.

It didn't come.

Jack's eyes met his, Ianto could see the second the mistake he made registered with him. The wine bottle went crashing to the floor by their feet.

There was a second of silence, then they moved at the same time.  
"I got it."  
"I got it. I'll get a towel."

Ianto was rushing into the living room, his hands frantically pulling of his tie and waistcoat, while trying to get his gun and loading it.

His footsteps were silent as he made his way through the hallway, he was in full work-mode now: Locate the target, get a clean shot, pull the trigger.

"Ianto? You here, sweetheart?"

Ianto grimaced at the pet name, then grinned when he realized that Jack's voice came from the kitchen.

He crept down the corridor, turning into the kitchen gun up and ready. Only to find it empty.  
He heard a noise behind him, he turned and pulled the trigger.

"Jack!"

Ianto was sure his heart had actually stopped beating. Jack was staring at him in total shock.

Where his head had been seconds ago was now a bullet hole in the wall.

"Oh, God." Ianto's gun shattered to the ground. He took a few steps backwards, a choked off sob escaped his throat.

Then he turned an ran for the door, ignoring Jack calling after him, just running and running until the mantra of 'I almost killed Jack! I almost killed Jack! I almost killed Jack!' finally subsided.

~.~

 

"Oh God, Ianto. What happened?" Tosh opened the door with nothing but a blanket wrapped around her.

"I shot Jack." and then the tears started to fall.

"What? Fuck! Come in." she lead him into her living room, sitting him down on the sofa, kissing him on top of the head before disappearing into her bedroom again.

Ianto was just raiding Tosh's liquor cabinet when he heard harsh whispers in the hallway before the front door was pulled shut loudly.

"Hey." Tosh whispered when she rejoined him, curling unto the couch next to him. She was still wrapped into a blanket, her usually tidy hair was in a disarray and on closer inspection Ianto noticed mascara smudges under her eyes.

Ianto just knocked back another glass full of scotch. She watched him for a moment before sighing.

"Come here." she opened the blanket for Ianto to crawl into. He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm wearing underwear." she offered and Ianto moved over to curl into her embrace, resting his head on her shoulder.

"And now start in the beginning."

~.~

 

"What? Your husband is the shooter?"

Jack nodded miserably and took the offered spoon of ice cream from Rose. Why she needed comfort food when he was miserable, he didn't know. But the first thing she had done when she had found him in the console room of the TARDIS was check the fridge for anything with chocolate.

"That's impossible." Mickey stated.

"Really?"

"Okay. Okay, here's the upside." Mickey started. "You don't love him."

"No." Jack slowly shook his head. He couldn't love him. He had been lied to, the Ianto he thought he loved didn't exist, it had been one big, fat lie and he was going to get him back for that.

"You'll kill him. And nobody's better at that than you are." Mickey looked him straight in the eye. "And then it'll be over."

Jack gave a curt nod before lifting himself off the floor, resolutely not meeting Rose's glance.  
"I have to." he told her, trying to keep his voice from breaking.

"I know. But it's breaking my heart."

'Yours and mine both.' he thought when he closed the door behind him and left.

~.~

Jack let his gaze wander over the city underneath him.

Somewhere down there was Ianto. Ianto, who had betrayed him, who had tried to kill him, who was going to die for that tomorrow.

Jack slipped his wedding ring of his finger and let it drop. It fell all the way down from the roof of the nine-story building before hitting the ground with a soft 'bing'.

~.~

 

"Fuck! What am I gonna do?" Ianto whispered into the darkness of Tosh's living room. He was lying on her sofa, wrapped into a blanket.

His mind too worked up to sleep, playing over and over again the day he first met Jack, that wonderful week in Bogotá, the day he asked Jack to marry him, Jack's face splitting into a big grin before whispering "yes", moving in together, their wedding, the wedding night, his sister showing Jack those embarrassing pictures that had him still cracking up years later, the moment he recognized Jack's face on the videotape of the man blew the operation and tried to shoot him.

When had their live gone from boring and normal to completely fucked up?

"I don't love him." shaking hands pulled the wedding ring from his finger and let it drop to Tosh's coffee-table with a "It's just a job."

* * *

"Target profile is our main priority." Ianto stood in the boardroom, his team scattered around him. "Utilize all mean necessary: phone taps, credit cards, audio scan civilian frequencies and search the database."

"For what? Jack Harkness?" Owen asked.

Harkness-Jones, Ianto wanted to correct but he kept silent.  
"Find him." he ordered instead.

"Uh, Ianto?" Tosh piped up. "I think I found him."

"Where?"

"Here." her hands were flying over her keyboard. "Heat sensor breach in the perimeter. Commence scanning all floors."

"How the fuck did he get in here? Lock everything down, nothing gets out without my say. Prepare for immediate evacuation."

Ianto cellphone started ringing. One look at the display confirmed his suspicion. Jack.  
"I thought I told you not to bother me at the office, honey."

"Well, you are still Mr Harkness-Jones." came Jack's voice over the speaker.

"Not for long."

Jack laughed humourlessly. "Careful, Ianto. I can press the button anytime, anywhere, sweetheart."

"Baby, you couldn't find the button with both hands and a map." Ianto retorted, causing Owen to nearly choke on his coffee.

"Last warning. You need to disappear."

"No." Ianto gave Tosh a questioning look, she shook her head. She hadn't found him yet.

"Now." Jack's voice hardened.

"Do you really expect me to roll over and play dead?"

"You should be used to it after five years of marriage."

Owen mouthed a silent "ouch" to Gwen when a look of fury crossed Ianto's face.  
"Six. And I'm not leaving. First and last warning, Jack. Get out of town."

"You know I'm not going anywhere."

"Well so you say. But right now you're trapped in a underground building rigged with a hell of a lot of explosive."

"Well, so are you. And this is never gonna work, honey. This is never gonna work because you constantly underestimate me."

"Do I?"

"You have no idea who I am. You have no idea what I'm capable of."

"Well, back at you, baby." Ianto all but growled into the phone. "Promise to leave town or I'll blow it."

"Okay. I give up."  
Ianto allowed himself a smirk of victory.

"Blow it." Jack announced.

"What?"

"Go on, do it."

"You think I won't?"

"I think you won't."

"He's right on underneath us." Tosh told him.

"Goodbye, Jack." with that Ianto snapped the phone shut.  
"Evacuate. Plan C." Ianto ordered and everybody started to run.

Tosh was making all the data on their computer systems useless, Gwen was shredding and burning papers and Owen was making sure all weaponry was inaccessible. Ianto was frantically entering codes into the security system to lock-down the HUB and activate the self-destruct.

"Everybody out now!" Ianto yelled over the erupted chaos, hurrying over to the lift.

A door burst open behind them.

Ianto turned, Jack was standing on the other side of the HUB gun raised and trained on him.

Gwen pulled him onto the platform and pressed the button to activate the lift.

Ianto could see Jack take aim, his finger hovering over the trigger.

The lift had almost reached the top.

A shot rung through the air.

"TEN – NINE – EIGHT - ..." announced a computer voice of the speaker system.

Jack's eyes widened with realization and he turned to run.

~.~

A blast rocked the whole of the Plass, sending Gwen, Tosh, Owen and Ianto flying to the ground, dirt and debris raining down on them. People were running, shouting and screaming. Car alarms were beeping and sirens starting in the distance.

Ianto turned around, where the water-tower had been with the HUB underneath was not a huge smoking crater.

"Jack." he whispered. He had been in there. The self-destruct would have destroyed every single level of the HUB, there would have been no place one could hide and survive.  
Jack was dead.  
"Jack!" Ianto screamed and tried to get back to the destroyed HUB, but Gwen's strong grip stopped him after only two steps.

"Ianto! There's nothing you could do for him now." She held him back until he simply didn't have the strength to fight her anymore, let him scream until his throat was sore, and then held him until his sobs subsided and there were no tears left to cry.  
Jack was dead. And Ianto had killed him.

"Are you hurt? I heard a shot." Gwen asked when Ianto had finally calmed down a bit and now lay slumped against her, exhausted and broken.

"Oh, he's just fine. I'm the one who's dying over here." Owen's voice came from behind them.

"You're not dying, you're going to be just fine." Tosh protested. "And if you would actually let me help instead of trying to remove the bullet yourself, things would go a lot faster."

"We need to get a move on." Gwen stated, easily taking charge. "As soon as Owen's shoulder is bandaged we head to the secondary facility."

~.~

 

"Are you telling me you had a shot at him and you didn't take it?" the Doctor asked, wincing with Jack when Martha pulled another piece of glass from Jack's skin none to gently.

"What I'm trying to say is," the Doctor continued. "If you're saying you couldn't take him out, you're putting us all at a risk here.  
Tomorrow morning, nine o'clock, the prime minister will put a prize of one hundred thousand pounds on your head each. That's how much time Ianto had to kill you, twenty-four hours.  
That's how much I can give you, Jack. Tomorrow nine o'clock one of you is dead. One way or another." with that the Doctor left to the control room to park the TARDIS back to her customary spot.

"The front door is still burning a bit." Rose announced when she entered the medbay.

~.~

 

A single tear ran down Ianto's cheek. He quickly brushed it away, he simply couldn't deal with another person asking him if he was alright today.

He gave the waiter a polite nod and the man left to get him his champagne refill.

This was the restaurant he and Jack had visited so often. He could remember Jack leaning over the table kissing him and earning him a stern stare from the waiter, hands wandering under the table and best of all dancing on the small dance floor the restaurant offered.  
A slow tango started to play. 'Jack would have liked it.' Ianto thought.

He raised his glass to his lips, drinking the last bit of champagne. A warm, familiar hand closed around his own holding the now empty glass.  
"More champagne, Sir?"

Jack was alive. And the only thing Ianto felt was unbearable relief and the urge to grab him and kiss him senseless.

"I thought of a number of lines for this moment." Jack continued. "But they were all kinda cliché."  
"May I sit?" he asked instead, pulling out the chair opposite of Ianto.

Ianto nodded slightly and Jack sat down. Jack smiled at him slightly and Ianto heard the sound of a gun cocking.  
"You look good. I like that suit."

"Thank you, I'm in mourning." he answered. "What do you want, Jack?"

"We got an unusual problem, Ianto." Jack leaned forward, looking straight a Ianto. "You obviously want me dead. And I'm less and less concerned of your well-being. So what do we do? Do we shoot it out here? Hope for the best?"

"Hmm... no." Ianto leaned back in his chair. If Jack wanted to play it cool, they would play it cool. "That would be a shame because they would probably ask me to leave once you're dead and I really like this place."

"Dance with me." Jack held out a hand to him and Ianto took it readily, following Jack to the dance floor.

"You think this story is gonna have a happy ending?" Jack asked, pulling Ianto flush against him.

"Happy endings are just stories that haven't finished yet." Ianto answered, removing Jack's hand from his arse and moving to lead their dance instead, backing him up until be collided with a pillar behind him.

"Smooth." Jack commented.

"I try my best." Ianto steered them back over the dance floor, his hands sliding down Jack's back, checking for weapons.

"Satisfied?" Jack asked with a smirk when he didn't find any.

"Not for years." Ianto matched his smirk and ran his hand down Jack's chest instead, removing the knife he found tucked under his belt.

He felt Jack's hands run over his own body in search of anything lethal, grinning when Jack's hands lingered just a moment to long on his crotch.

"All me, baby." Ianto chuckled.

Jack laughed, giving him a tight squeeze before removing the gun from the back of Ianto's trousers.

"Oh trust me, that gun I can handle." Jack was grinning at him, leaning in close, their lips inches apart. Ianto closed the gap between them, pressing his lips gently against Jack.

Seconds later he felt Jack pull away, taking a step back.  
"I have to... I have to go." he told him, never meeting his eyes, but Ianto could see tear track running down his cheeks.  
Then Jack turned and left the room.

"Oh no, you don't." Ianto muttered running after him.

~.~

Ianto came down to the car park to hear tires screeching and seeing Jack's SUV disappearing into the streets.  
He ran to his own car and followed Jack. He rummaged through his suit pocket, finally finding his cellphone and hitting dial.  
"Jack, let's talk about this." he started.

"There's nothing to talk about." came the sullen reply. "You tried to kill me. Twice. I think that speaks for itself."

"Jack, I..." Ianto trailed off, taking a deep breath. "We can't go on like this. I can't go on like this."

"You didn't seem to have a problem with it before." and with that Jack hung up on him.

Ianto hit re-dial.  
"Where are you going?"

"Home." Jack replied. "Packing my things up and leaving."

Ianto sighed. He had felt something between them earlier, something he hadn't felt in years. If there was still a chance, no matter how small, that they could work things out between them, he would take it.  
"The first time we met, what was your first thought?"

"You tell me."

"I thought... I thought you looked like a Christmas morning. I don't know how else to say it."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"I guess in the end you start thinking about the beginning." Ianto tried to keep his voice even, but he couldn't quite manage to keep the emotion out of it. He loved Jack, no matter how much it hurt to admit that now, but he really loved him. And one way or another they wouldn't stand a chance trying to save their relationship. There had been too many lies, too many wrong decisions. He barely knew him anymore.  
"So there it is. I thought you should know. So how about you, Jack?"

"I thought..." Jack started, his voice too gruff with emotion Ianto noticed, hearing him exhale lowly before continuing."I thought you were one of the hottest jobs I've had in a long time."

And it hurt to hear Jack say those words. It hurt to know that the one person he still loved so much despite everything that had happened didn't love him back.  
"So it was all just a job?"

"Yeah, all business." Jack confirmed, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles turned white.

"Then that's all I needed to know." then Ianto hung up.

Jack's car took a dangerous sway when the tears forming in his eyes clouded his sight. The horn from the car he had almost hit ripped him out of his thoughts.

~.~

 

Jack pulled into the driveway to their house, barely avoiding crashing into Ianto's car, who was just doing the same.

"This is a job. Nothing more than a job." Jack muttered under his breath, as he got out of the hastily parked car, running towards the house. "I don't love him. I don't fucking love him."

Ianto pulled into the driveway right behind Jack. He watched him rush out of the car and run towards the house, disappearing into the darkness. Slowly he climbed out of his own car, walking to the front door, knowing Jack had taken the back entrance.

The door was locked and barricaded. He went to the nearest window only to find it locked too. He peered though as saw Jack hurrying into the living room bolting the locks on the windows there too. He was heavily armed, Ianto noticed a moment later, Jack was carrying a sniper rifle, going from one room to the next, locking doors and windows and turning the light off.

Ianto moved to the next window.  
Jack didn't love him, Jack had lied to him, had used him, had ridiculed him. Their whole marriage had been nothing more than a joke. And he had been stupid enough to fall for it, Ianto thought, pulling at yet another window to no avail. Jack had made it clear that this was nothing but a job and he would threat it as such, he deal with this like he did with any other job. This would end tonight, one way or another.

Wrapping his jacket around his first Ianto smashed the window, winching when it shattered loudly and climbing through as quick as possible. He kicked his shoes off as to not make a sound and made his way through the dark house.

First he needed to find a weapon, he knew Jack had a gun and he knew there were a few off his own hidden in his office.  
He sneaked through the corridor, trying to not make a sound, pulling the door in behind him, but not closing it completely, leaving it slightly ajar.

Arming himself with a handgun, he stepped back out of his office and was instantly met with gunfire. Two shots hit the wall not far from his head, slowly closing in. Ianto ducked back into the doorway, crouching down.

The shots stopped.  
"Are you still alive, honey?" Jack called from the other room.

Ianto groaned pitifully and true to his predictions, Jack stepped further out of the room, right into Ianto's line of sight and fire.  
He got two shots, both missing his target, before Jack was returning the fire and Ianto was forced to flee the hideout in his office.

He cut off Jack's way through the living room and emptied his magazine, before ducking into the kitchen. He knew he had hit Jack's arm once. A small satisfaction, when he inspected the wound in his side where a bullet had gazed him. Not too deep, he decided.

"You ruined my shirt." he called.

"I was actually aiming for something a bit more vital." Jack voice sounded through the house.  
Ianto tried to place from where and moved from the kitchen to the dinning room.

"Sorry to disappoint." he called back. "How is your arm?"

"Just a scratch." Stairs, maybe on his way upstairs, he thought as he slowly made his way through to the corridor. He stopped dead in his tracks when a grenade came rolling through the door stopping just short off his feet.

"Fuck." he cursed rushing back into the kitchen, the explosion from the other room send him falling to the floor.  
"Are you insane?" he shouted when he had his breath back.

"Don't worry, that was just a small one." Jack's voice came from behind him. Close behind him, Ianto noticed a moment too late. "I never did like those curtains anyway." Jack was standing in the doorway, smirking down at him.

Hearing the sound of a gun cocking, Ianto had barely time to duck behind the fridge when the shooting started again. He reached for his gun only to realize that he must have lost it when Jack had blown up the living room.

Desperately rummaging through every cupboard and drawer within reach, he finally found a big knife. It missed Jack's head by millimeters.

"Your aim is a bad as your cooking." he called, hoping to distract Jack long enough to get to a weapon. Ianto winced when the coffee-maker took a few shots and landed not far from his feet.  
Then he noticed an army issued box.

"You're hiding grenades behind the coffee-maker? Really?" Two of them went rolling to where he suspected Jack.

Ianto saw Jack being flung down by the force of the second explosion. He rushed after him, his fist connected with Jack's jaw, the gun in the other's hand shattered to the floor and the next blow fell, this time aimed for Ianto's kidney.

Hand-to-hand-combat was a lot more satisfactory than guns and grenades, Ianto decided, when Jack crashed backwards into the cupboard in the dinning room. Even if it was bar-brawl style.  
His head connected with the wall behind him when a well-aimed kick landed in his stomach.

Furniture shattered, glass dug into his body every time he went to the floor, but he gave as good as he got and he knew they would both carry bruises tomorrow.

Jack held him pressed to the floor, his hand wrapped in his tie, chocking him, his thighs pressed into Ianto's sides keeping his arms trapped. A precise kick into the groin shook him off and Ianto dashed down the corridor going for the gun Jack had dropped earlier.

He loaded and turned, ready to fire, only to come face to face with Jack, gun loaded and aimed at Ianto's head.

They were both panting heavily with the fight just now, Jack's lips was split and swollen and Ianto could barely open his right eye.

They both stood still, staring at each other, waiting for the other to shoot.

Jack took in Ianto's rumpled form, the way his hand holding the gun was shaking ever so slightly, his eyes not filled with anger or fear but with sadness.

Ianto wouldn't shoot. But could he shoot Ianto?

"I can't do it." Jack lowered his gun slowly. He couldn't. He might have managed to tell himself that it was just a job enough times to get him right to this moment, his gun pointing at Ianto's head, but he couldn't pull the trigger.

"It's just a job. I'm just another mark." Ianto's voice shook, the words were hollow and Jack saw a look of hurt cross over his husbands face.

'I did that.' Jack thought dejectedly, 'I made Ianto hurt like that. I hurt the one person I never wanted to let any harm come to by putting my job over my marriage. What the hell was I thinking?'

"You're so much more, Ianto Jones." Jack whispered, his voice rough with emotion. He took a step closer to Ianto, the other man gun still trained to is head. Another step and he was standing right in front of Ianto, close enough to touch. He reached out a hand, running a finger over Ianto's cheek, brushing away a single tear that had escaped.

"It's Harkness-Jones." with that Ianto moved in, kissing Jack hard on the lips.

Something went crashing to the floor loudly, when Jack backed Ianto against the wall.  
"Jack. Jack." Ianto panted breathlessly. "Jack. Glass. On the floor."

Jack chuckled when he saw that Ianto was standing on his tiptoes trying not to get any glass splinters into his feet while at the same time trying not to let go of Jack and continue kissing him.

"Don't laugh. Do something about it." Ianto bit Jack's lower lip in a playful warning and then laughed himself when Jack tightened his arms around Ianto's waist and lifted him off his feet a few inches to carry him unto the sideboard.

Ianto hooked his legs around Jack's middle to pull him closer, pressing their bodies together.  
Their hands worked frantically to get each other out of their clothing.

Ianto pulled Jack towards him, a hand on his neck guiding him, bringing him closer until their lips met. Their kiss was gentle, careful. Their tongues met, stroking against each other in a lazy movement.

He thrust his hips against Jack's, brushing their groins together. He could feel that he was just as hard as he was himself, could feel the impatience in his moans and the small movements of his hips.  
"God. Jack, please... need to feel you..." he panted.

Jack's hands unbuckled his belt and Ianto felt his trousers skidding down his legs. Seconds later Jack followed them, sinking to his knees in front of him.

Hot wet heat engulfed Ianto cock, causing his hips to buck up. Jack pressed his hands to his thighs, keeping him in place.

Jack hummed deep in his throat and Ianto's whole body felt like it was on fire, his veins were thumping and his head fuzzy with arousal.

He brought up a hand, letting his fingers tangle in Jack's dark hair. Just holding him, steadying himself, never pushing.  
He watched Jack kneel between his legs, his lips red and wet with saliva wrapped around his cock. The sight almost enough to bring him too close to the edge far to fast.

Jack caught his glance and Ianto could see the sparkle in his eyes as he doubled his efforts, bringing a spit-slick finger to his hole, pressing slowly in.

"Fuck, please!" the words tumbled from Ianto's lips helplessly. His breathing was heavy and his head swimming with lust.

He tucked on Jack, pulling him up to him. Their lips pressed together, all but melting into the kiss. He ran a hand down his husband's back, his body was warm in spite of the sweat cooling on his skin.

Jack rummaged through his pockets.  
"I got some... somewhere."

Ianto cursed and slid off the sideboard, patting out of the room, coming back seconds later a bottle of lube in his hand.  
He flipped open the cap, pouring a liberal amount on his fingers he reached between his legs, loosening himself up. He rocked his hips back into his hand, moaning softly.

Moments later Jack had him pinned to the cupboard, pressing his own, now naked body to Ianto's back, replacing his fingers with his own, scissoring him open.  
He pressed his lips to Ianto's neck, licking away the sweat pooling there.

Soft steady moans were escaping Ianto's lips.  
"So close already." he muttered.

Jack took in the fine sheen of swear covering Ianto's body, the soft tremors of arousal and excitement running trough him. His eyes were wide open, pupils dilated with lust and his unwavering glance burning into his skin with heat and trust.

"God Ianto." his voice was hoarse with emotion. His hands shook slightly when he lined himself up and pushed in slowly.

Ianto hissed and clenched around him, then relaxed and moaned softly when Jack began to slowly rock into him. He nudged his nose to Ianto's cheek until he turned his head, pressing their lips together in a messy kiss.

Jack let himself fall forward, resting against Ianto's back, his hips setting a steady rhythm, moving harder and faster, pushing them both closer and closer to their climaxes.

He felt the heat coil in his stomach, he reached a hand between their bodies tugging Ianto's cock, forcing a shudder and a desperate moan form him.

Ianto's back arched, his mouth opened in a silent scream. His orgasm pulled Jack along, with one last deep thrust he came.

Jack had slumped down, his head resting on Ianto's shoulder, his breath was quick and shallow. He could feel their hearts beating fast.

~.~

 

Jack couldn't help but smile when he walked into the half destroyed kitchen and saw Ianto standing at the sink, rinsing glass splinters off an apple he had been able to find. He was wearing Jack's shirt he had stolen and claimed as his when Jack had ripped his own into shreds that were now wrapped around Ianto's torso and Jack's arm to stop the bullet wounds from bleeding.

"Morning." Jack leaned in to press a kiss to Ianto's lips.

"Morning." Ianto smiled, and for the first time in possibly weeks Jack saw a real smile on his husband's face.  
"So, we have an apple, some jam, toast with minimal damage - I removed all the bullets - and orange juice. No coffee though, I'm afraid."

They had settled on the floor by the front door for their breakfast since it seemed to be the place with the least damage and possibility to end up sitting in glass or wood splinters.

"That left hook of yours. It's a thing of beauty." Jack leaned back against the wall next to Ianto, taking another gulp of orange juice from the broken cup.

"Thanks, you take it well." Ianto grinned and brushed his shoulders against Jack's.  
"So, that vacation in Aspen... You left early, why?"

"Jean-Luc Gaspard." Jack smirked.

"Oh, damn. I wanted him." Ianto admitted, causing Jack to laugh.

"And you really didn't hear me that night the chopper dropped me off for our anniversary?"Jack asked.

"No." Ianto thought for a moment. "Hmm, percussion grenades. I was partially deaf that night."

Jack winced in sympathy. "I'm slightly colour blind. Retinal scarring. And I can't feel anything in these three fingers." he held up middle finger, ring finger and pinky of his right hand.

Ianto linked his own with Jack's fingers.  
"We're gonna have to redo every conversation we've ever had."

"Okay, I'll start." Jack nodded. "I was never in the Peace Corps."

"What? No, I really liked that about you."

"Well, maybe this honesty thing isn't such a good idea."

"No, no, no." Ianto took a deep breath. "I didn't go to M.I.T."

"Really?"

"Notre Dame. Art history major."

"Art?"

"History. It's reputable."

"Okay." Jack laughed. "I have to tell you. I never did like your cooking."

"I've never cooked a day in my life." Ianto grinned at him.

"Okay, I should probably tell you: I was married once before." Jack admitted, wincing when Ianto hit him. "To a woman. Ouch." another hit.

"What's her name and social security number?" Ianto demanded.

"No. You're not going to kill her." Jack rolled his eyes. "And don't you think you're being hypocritical? It's not like you've told a lot of truth over the last few years."

"Jack. My parents – they died when I was sixteen."

"Who were the people I met at our wedding?"

"Paid actors."

"I knew I saw your dad on that tv show!" Jack exclaimed.

"I know." Ianto rolled his eyes. "I was given twenty-four hours to take you out. They're up at nine o'clock. That's two hours to go." he told Jack, steering the topic back to their current situation.

"Same. The Doctor said Saxon's gonna put a prize on both our heads."

"This is gonna get messy." Ianto sighed. "We need a plan. If we separate we might have a shot, not a great shot but at least a chance at all, if we stay together we're dead."

"Unless... unless we end this now, for good. If we run now, we'll be running for ever."

Ianto nodded. "Then let's do this. Let's fight."

~.~

 

Three months later

"Jack! Hurry up. You're going to make us late." Ianto panted harshly, his fingers tightening in Jack's hair.

"I can't believe you just said that." Jack's face was pressed into Ianto's neck.

"Jack, please" was the low response, almost desperate. "I'm so close." Ianto's hand was moving faster on his own cock, bringing him closer and closer to the edge.

Jack groaned and sped up his thrusts, spilling into Ianto only moments before his husband reached his own climax.

Ianto rested his head on Jack's shoulder for a moment, trying to get his breath back.

"Not falling asleep on me, are you?" Jack's teasing words caused him to blink his eyes open again.

"No, we still have that appointment with Dr Noble in an hour." he sighed. "We should get going. Maybe this time I'll manage to get dressed without being dragged into bed."

Jack chuckled at Ianto quip at him. "You know if we shower together we'll be faster."

"We won't." Ianto untangled himself from Jack and headed to the bathroom, leaving a pouting Jack behind.

They managed to be on time for their appointment. Barely.

"I'm interested in the progress you've made in the last few weeks." Dr Noble started.

"We're doing alright." Ianto smiled at Jack, entwining their fingers under the table, his thumb brushing over the wedding band on his finger.

"We... talked. We got to know each other again." Jack confirmed, answering Ianto's smile and giving his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"That's good to hear." Dr Noble nodded. "What did you change in your relationship?"

"We started fighting." Jack laughed. "With each other and for each other."

"We learned that we work better as a team than separately." Ianto grinned, thinking back to Jack and him fighting side by side and the team they were now leading together.


End file.
